Juror: W.M Hunt, Curator & Collector
August 3rd – September 18, 2012

EQUIVALENTS: 17th Annual Photo Competition Exhibition was juried by W.M. Hunt, esteemed Curator and Collector. This annual juried show remains amongst the most popular in Photo Center’s gallery program. This year 257 photographers from around the globe entered the competition with over 2000 images. W.M. Hunt selected 46 photographers displaying a variety of concepts and subject matter.

Artists Charles Purvis and Lauren Marsolier both explore shifts in the human notions of the real, the experience and impression of what’s unseen, implied and possible. However, Purvis does so by cutting and pasting fragments of altered photographs, while Marsolier digitally constructs environments that introduce us to a new stage of abstraction. Monika Merva’s emotional portraits navigate the melodies of commonplace and Robert Moran’s nostalgic typologies tell the stories of objects once relied upon.

Juror Bio: W.M. Hunt is a champion of photography – collector, curator and consultant who lives and works in New York. He is the author of “The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious” published in 2011 by Aperture in the US, Thames & Hudson in the UK and as “L’Oeil Invisible” by “Actes Sud” in France. Highlights from his collection have been seen at the George Eastman House and in Europe in Arles, Lausanne, and Amsterdam.

Hunt is very supportive of emerging talent and has judged many competitions including World Press, and he has participated in most of the major portfolio reviews including PhotoLucida and Fotofest. He is on the Board of Directors of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund and The Center for Photography at Woodstock, New York where he was the recipient of their Vision Award in 2009. He also served on the Board of Directors of AIPAD (Association of International Photography Art Dealers) and was the past Chairman of Photographers + Friends United Against AIDS. He is an adjunct professor at the ICP and the School of Visual Arts.

Founding partner of the prominent photography gallery Hasted Hunt (now Hasted Kraeutler) in Chelsea, Manhattan, and former director of photography at Ricco/Maresca gallery, Hunt has been collecting photography for almost 40 years and has been profiled in The New York Times, PDN, Art on Paper, Modern Painters, The Art Newspaper, PBS’ “EGG, the Arts Show”, as well as BBC’s “The Genius of Photography” and elsewhere.

AWARDS: First, second, and third prize winners will take home $1000, $500, and $250 as well as a $75 Blurb Inc. Scrip Certificate for each winner. Photo Center gratefully acknowledges Blurb Inc., Glazer’s Camera, and Panda Lab respectively for their award sponsorships.